FCB London has launched a new free tool ‘AdVocab’ to help newcomers in the advertising industry understand the complex and technical language used in every day work. Devised by FCB London Art Director Amy Bland and Copywriter Sacha Burke during the COVID-19 pandemic, AdVocab was created in partnership with D&AD’s New Talent programmes Shift and New Blood.
The words and phrases in AdVocab are accompanied by illustrations, created by FCB London designer Dante Attuoni. All three were new to the advertising industry and brightened to the opportunity to create a visual language which could help people decipher advertising’s cryptic vocabularly.
Amy, Sacha and Dante said the industry has its own vocabulary that no one teaches. “You can study advertising but you’re not going to pick-up all the language at Uni. Things move so fast and there are bigger questions than ‘what does burn mean?’” they explained. “We started making our own list of words and then realized how much it might help other people, so they don’t feel as silly as we did asking for a definition of something they may not understand.”
Owen Lee, Chief Creative Officer at FCB London, said they want to make the transition into advertising as smooth and easy to understand as possible. “The beauty of this tool is that it reduces the barrier to entry, or even the barrier once you’re inside, by revealing the meaning behind the jargon,” he said. “The easily accessible website will be sure to empower young creatives, strategists, and account managers to produce their best work and feel confident whilst doing it.”
Paul Drake, Foundation Director at D&AD, highlighted that advertising is full or jargons which not only creates a barrier for people accessing the industry, but can also lead to awkward onboarding experiences for new starters. “This tool is an easy way for people to learn and understand advertising jargon, particularly for those not coming into the industry via traditional pathways.”
Creatives across the industry can use AdVocab’s open design toolkit to upload any new word they have been confused by in the past, and design their illustrations, and share on social media. The trio behind AdVocab hope the tool will be the catalyst to creating a community of people at all stages of their career who are actively learning how to better communicate with each other, and engage with the industry at large.
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